Life on the Road
Stevie Coyle has been struck by a spell of Seattle rain, despite the fact that he’s in San Francisco. His voice lights up, though, when I ask him what his band, The Waybacks, likes to eat on the road. “Cracker Barrel, baby,” he quips, without having to consider his answer first. “You’re a road warrior, you know how it is.”
“Yeah,” I tell him, “lots of taco bell (for me).”
“No, we try to find good food when we can … anywhere that actually cooks the food there. Mom and pop joints, you know.” His voice fills with absolute delight as he recalls a restaurant the band stopped at a few weeks ago, somewhere in West Virginia, when they all “ate like kings” without spending more than $5 each.
“It’s really hard to screw up breakfast,” he goes on. “So if breakfast is served all day, that’s for us.”
For The Waybacks, the road is a way of life. Now, in the weeks before their fourth studio album, From the Pasture to the Future is released on April 25, the band is on one of the longest hiatuses in five years. For this band, hiatus means staying home in San Francisco.
Each member has his own side projects. Bassist Joe Kyle is one of the most in-demand players in the Bay area. Singer and guitarist James Nash does his solo work. Coyle teaches guitar lessons, among other things.
From the Pasture to the Future
The new CD is quite a departure for the band, according to Coyle. Their previous albums “were all sonic snapshots of what we do onstage,” says Coyle. “This one branched out a little bit … our producer has an ear for where things are bumping into each other, and where to tuck things in. (He took us) from a ‘back porch’ sound to a ‘downtown’ sound.”
Coyle’s favorite tune on the record? The title track, which got its name when one of Coyle’s friends misspoke in saying “from the past to the future.”
The album, which features several Waybacks originals (including two by Coyle), also includes a cover from Chick Corea and a New Orleans second-line-style romp through the old Kinks tune “Motorway.”
When asked how the band determines what songs go on the record, Coyle admits it’s not rocket science. “Whatever happens in the studio is what we’ll do.”
From the Pasture was recorded in Oakland at Studio 880 and in Austin at a studio belonging to the band’s pal Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel). “(The Austin studio) has an Igor character there who knows all the machines … whatever (version of a song) feels good, gets its day in the sun. That’s the Waybacks way.”
The Waybacks Beginnings
It would seem “the Waybacks way” has governed the band since its inception. The members just fell together from within the San Francisco music scene. Coyle and Nash are the only remaining original members. The others – Peter Tucker and Chris Key – had “actual jobs that paid money, etc.,” and decided they’d rather not tour so much, once the band started going that direction.
Determined to keep the magic going, Nash and Coyle brought on bassist Joe Kyle and drummer Chuck Hamilton. Their original fiddler decided to do solo projects, which put The Waybacks in a state of fiddle flux for a year or more, before they found Warren Hood (South Austin Jug Band).
Now, Coyle says, the band is just excited about their next album, which will feature the prodigious Hood on fiddle and mandolin.
But the next album is a ways off, and in the meantime, the band has some touring to do. This year’s tour kicks off with a show they’ll share with Bob Weir. Then they’ll head off to Merlefest (one of their favorite places to play). And with that, our conversation turns back to the road.
On the Road Again
“Any crazy road stories,” I ask.
“We ran into an elk in Silverton, CO.”
Coyle goes on to tell me the most interesting stories are the ones that only a road warrior can really understand, like the hotels they stay in. “We usually stay in little hotels that Molder and Scully stay at in The X-Files.”
In particular, there was a hotel in Johnson City, TN, that didn’t have a “behind-the-scenes area for the night man to hang out.” There was a cot right behind the desk, and when the band came in from a long day of driving, the hotel attendant (whom Coyle describes as “a tall and slender cadaverous Lurch character”) was lying face-down in the cot, and he didn’t appear to be breathing.
Then, all of a sudden, he got up from the cot, combed his hair with his hands, wiped a moist towelette across his face, and said, “Can I help you guys?”
